Other ancient texts · Read in Jesus' day

Testament of Levi

The Testament of Levi is the third of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. It presents itself as the deathbed speech of Jacob's son Levi, telling of his visions of the heavens, his appointment as priest, the revenge on Shechem (Genesis 34), warnings that his descendants will corrupt the priesthood, and the coming of a "new priest." People read it as a window into Jewish hopes for the priesthood and a coming deliverer in the centuries before Jesus, for its link to the Dead Sea Scrolls, and for its close parallels with New Testament language.

  • 2nd century BC, with later Christian additions
  • Greek (possibly Hebrew)
  • Protestant Catholic Orthodox Ethiopian

Should it be in the Bible?

The case for

  1. Its core goes back to Jewish tradition old enough to have been copied at Qumran before the time of Jesus.

    The evidence

    Fragments of an Aramaic Levi Document that runs parallel to much of the Testament were found in Qumran Caves 1 and 4 (1Q21, 4Q213–4Q214b) and date to the 2nd–1st centuries BC. Jubilees 30–32 shares the same tradition of Levi being raised to the priesthood, which shows the material was widely known.

  2. Early and medieval Christians knew it, valued it, and kept copying it.

    The evidence

    Origen (Homilies on Joshua 15.6, 3rd century) mentions the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs as a book in circulation. Robert Grosseteste translated them into Latin in 1242, and that translation spread across Europe. The Greek, Armenian and Slavonic copies were all made by Christian scribes.

  3. Its teaching builds on Old Testament themes and shares language and ideas with the New Testament.

    The evidence

    It develops the 'covenant with Levi' of Malachi 2:4–7 and Moses' blessing of Levi in Deuteronomy 33:8–11. Its phrases 'reasonable and bloodless offering' (3:6) and 'the wrath of God came upon them to the end' (6:11) closely match Romans 12:1 and 1 Thessalonians 2:16.

The case against

  1. No Jewish or Christian community has ever counted it as scripture.

    The evidence

    It is missing from every canon list, including Athanasius (367), Hippo and Carthage, Trent, and the broader Ethiopian canon. Byzantine lists such as the Stichometry of Nicephorus name the 'Patriarchs' among the apocrypha, the books not to be read as scripture.

  2. It is written under Levi's name, and the text we have was reshaped by Christians, so its original form is hard to recover.

    The evidence

    It names Levi as author but was written more than a thousand years after his time. Parts of the text speak openly of Christ: Levi's sons 'will lay hands upon him to crucify him' (4:4), 'the Saviour of the world' (10:2), and the Spirit resting on the new priest 'in the water' (18:7). Scholars disagree about whether these are later additions or signs that the whole work is Christian.

  3. Its picture of Levi differs from Genesis, and it adds speculation found nowhere in the Old Testament.

    The evidence

    Genesis 49:5–7 has Jacob cursing Levi's violence at Shechem, but Testament of Levi 5:3 says an angel gave Levi a sword to carry out that revenge. Its tour of several layered heavens with angelic ranks (chapters 2–3) goes well beyond anything in the Hebrew Bible.

Both sides are written as strongly as the honest evidence allows, so you can decide for yourself. Researched by claude-opus-5-5.

When, where and by whom

Traditional view: the book presents itself as Levi's own last words, though no Jewish or Christian community ever treated that as historical fact. Scholars disagree: R. H. Charles argued for a Jewish work written in Greek around 109–106 BC with later Christian additions, while M. de Jonge and others argue the Testaments as we have them are a Christian work of about AD 150–200 that reworked older Jewish sources, chiefly the Aramaic Levi Document (3rd or early 2nd century BC). Where it was written is unknown.

Jesus, the New Testament and this book
  • Aramaic material closely related to it was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.
  • Testament of Levi 18:6–7: the heavens open, a voice like a father's speaks, and the Spirit rests on the new priest 'in the water.' This closely matches Jesus' baptism (Mark 1:10–11; Matthew 3:16–17), though the wording may be a Christian reworking based on the Gospels. (strong link)
  • Christian additions refer to the crucifixion and to 'the Saviour of the world' (4:1–4; 10:2; 16:3). These show Christians reading the book as a prophecy of Jesus. (strong link)
  • 'The wrath of God came upon them to the end' (6:11) is almost word for word the same as Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2:16. (likely link)
  • A coming priest who is also like a king, and a 'new priesthood' (8:14; chapter 18), share an idea with Hebrews 5–7 on Jesus as high priest. Compare also the priestly and royal messiahs at Qumran (1QS 9:11). (likely link)
  • The 'reasonable and bloodless offering' offered by angels (3:6) recalls Paul's 'reasonable worship' (logikē latreia) in Romans 12:1. (possible link)
  • The new priest opening the gates of paradise and giving the saints food from the tree of life (18:10–11) echoes Revelation 2:7 and 22:2, 14. (possible link)
  • Levi's journey through several heavens (chapters 2–3) shares a picture of the world with Paul being caught up to 'the third heaven' (2 Corinthians 12:2). (possible link)
How it came down to us

The Testament of Levi survives as part of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. It exists in about a dozen or more Greek manuscripts from the 10th century on, the oldest being Cambridge University Library Ff.1.24. It was also translated into Armenian (an important witness that is often shorter) and Slavonic, and Grosseteste's 1242 Latin translation was made from the Cambridge manuscript. The related Aramaic Levi Document survives in pieces: Qumran fragments (1Q21, 4Q213–4Q214b), medieval Cairo Geniza leaves now in Cambridge and Oxford, a Syriac fragment, and Greek passages added to a Mount Athos manuscript (Koutloumous 39) at Testament of Levi 2:3 and 18:2. All the complete copies were made by Christian scribes.

  • Greek text of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (critical edition by M. de Jonge et al., 1978)
  • Dead Sea Scrolls fragments of the Aramaic Levi Document: 1Q21, 4Q213, 4Q213a, 4Q213b, 4Q214, 4Q214a, 4Q214b; also 4Q540–541 (Apocryphon of Levi)
  • Cairo Geniza Aramaic Levi fragments (Cambridge T-S and Bodleian) and the Greek additions in Mount Athos Koutloumous 39
  • Armenian and Slavonic versions; Grosseteste's Latin translation (1242)
  • Origen, Homilies on Joshua 15.6; Byzantine lists of books, including the Stichometry of Nicephorus
  • Jubilees 30–32 and the Old Testament passages Genesis 34 and 49, Deuteronomy 33 and Malachi 2
  • Scholarly studies: R. H. Charles (1908); M. de Jonge; H. W. Hollander and M. de Jonge (1985); J. Greenfield, M. Stone and E. Eshel, The Aramaic Levi Document (2004); R. Kugler

Chapters

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